Not which state is better — the wrong question. This instrument weighs both environments on the same five decision lenses and shows which coordination priorities change when the environment does. Same reasoning every state is read through; here, side by side.
Each lens turns a tax environment into a household decision. A dashed row means the two environments read the same on that lens; a solid row means they differ.
The household's operating-system domains each environment opens. The middle column holds where they agree; the outer columns are what is unique to each.
Whether — and how — a change of domicile is worth pursuing, and the facts (days, home, ties) that make it real rather than nominal.
Whether the state's estate exposure warrants credit-shelter / QTIP titling or lifetime gifting to move value below the state threshold.
Setting a harvesting cadence that captures the state rate a banked loss offsets, sequenced against the state's loss-carryforward rules.
Placing the high-turnover sleeve in tax-advantaged accounts so the state's rate falls on the least of the household's realized gains.
Titling assets to capture the fullest basis step-up the marital-property regime allows at the first death.
| Dimension | Hawaii | Nevada |
|---|---|---|
| Capital-gains rate | 7.25%Loss carryforward is time-limited — 7.25% long-term cap; loss carryforward dies after 5 years. Top effective long-term rate 7.25%. | 0%No state tax on capital gains — and a harvested loss is worth only the federal rate here. |
| Estate & inheritance | estateState estate tax (paid by the estate): top rate ~20%, exemption ~$5.49M. Graduated 10–20% over the exemption — the nation's highest top rate; not indexed. | No state estate or inheritance tax — only the federal estate tax applies. |
| Basis step-up | UDCPRDACommon-law state that has adopted the UDCPRDA — it preserves the community-property character (and the potential full step-up) of assets a couple brought from a CP state. | CPCommunity-property state: BOTH halves of community property step up to fair market value at the first spouse's death (IRC 1014(b)(6)) — a major basis advantage. |
| Marriage treatment | 2xJoint brackets are double the single brackets — generally marriage-neutral. | No state income tax — no marriage penalty on the state return. |
| Loss treatment | expiresLoss carryforward is time-limited and expires — the Hawaii carryforward dies after 5 years. Harvest before the clock runs out. | No state tax on capital gains, so a harvested loss carries no state benefit; its value here is only the federal offset. |
| Municipal bonds | in-stateOnly in-state municipal-bond interest escapes state tax; bonds from other states are taxed. The classic in-state muni preference that rewards a home-state ladder. | exemptMunicipal-bond interest is exempt from state tax whether the issuer is in-state or out-of-state — the broadest muni preference (states with no tax on investment income, plus a few that exempt all munis by statute). |
Because the rules differ, so does what coordination is worth. On an illustrative 30-year path, running a portfolio against each state's rules is worth an estimated ~$47,000/yr per $1M taxable in Hawaii versus ~$37,000/yr in Nevada — the coordination gap between the two (about +4.7%/yr vs +3.7%/yr modeled). A hypothetical, illustrative figure; the household's own depends on bracket, holdings, and residency (see the full basis of the estimate below).
State law reflects 2025 tax-year law; last reviewed 2026-07-07. Every classification is a summary of state law; where a primary-source citation has been verified, it is linked on the card.